By: The Country
Debbie McWilliams liked acting, but she didn’t want to be an actress. She discovered that she could develop her vocation by being in charge of choosing the casts of the films, after having worked as a secretary in a London theater. More than 40 years later, the British is one of the most respected casting directors in the film industry; She is the woman who has chosen the last three James Bond: Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.
Penélope Cruz is one of the thorns in her long history, she confesses. “I met her when she was about 18 or 20 years old and I adored her from the beginning. She came to meet Baz Luhrmann to shoot William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. She was perfect for the role. I think it was a big mistake that she was not Juliet ”, she confesses about the role that Claire Danes finally played opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.
Could Cruz be a Bond woman? “Definitely. I guess we haven’t had a suitable role for her in recent years,” replies McWilliams.
For My Beautiful Laundromat (1985), McWilliams managed to get director Stephen Frears to pay attention to an actor barely known in the cinema at the time. He was one Daniel Day-Lewis, a legend ever since. She had her eye on him at acting school and had followed in his footsteps into a small play. “The Daniel Day-Lewis thing is something that could not happen today.
Most of the time you are forced to select someone who is already popular. The first thing they ask you is how many followers that candidate has on Instagram, ”laments her niece, Jemima, while her aunt does not suppress a most eloquent“ yuck ”.
A not very well-known actor that McWilliams bet on was Daniel Craig, to be none other than James Bond himself. Now, a good part of the viewers are looking for a super spy that reflects the diversity of today’s world. In that 2005, the choice of Craig was filled with criticism: the fact that he was blonde was too disruptive for the character.
“Nobody wanted him on paper. Only Barbara (Broccoli, producer), her stepbrother Michael G. Wilson (also a producer and her stepbrother) and I advocated for that option. The press crushed him, but when Casino Royale was released he closed many mouths. And now nobody wants him to leave, ”he assures.
There is still time to meet the new James Bond. “The script isn’t written yet and it’s a primary tool for a casting director,” explains Debbie McWilliams. “We can only say what Barbara Broccoli recently advanced: that Bond will be a man again… And that no name that the press has assured in all these decades that it was going to be Bond has been done with the role”, he assures with a loud laugh.
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